Strange Suicide In Bank-Slay Case

A distraught state trooper killed himself Friday in the wake of a bank robbery that left five people dead a day earlier, the Nebraska State Patrol said.

Mark Zach, 35, shot himself with his service revolver at around 1 p.m. CDT just outside of Norfolk.

Zach had stopped one of the four robbery suspects, Erick Fernando Vela, 21, last week and ticketed him for carrying a concealed weapon. However, Zach transposed two digits when entering the gun's serial number into a police computer, said Gov. Mike Johanns.

Because of that mistake, the computer indicated that the weapon had not been stolen, the governor said.

The gun was confiscated by authorities and not used in Thursday's holdup. However, Zach apparently felt responsible for not getting the suspect behind bars earlier, said Col. Tom Nesbitt, patrol superintendent.

Zach was a 12-year veteran of the State Patrol based in Norfolk. He and his wife had six children, ranging in age from 4 to 15, Nesbitt said.

Earlier Friday, bond was denied for the four men accused of being behind one of the nation's deadliest bank robberies after a courtroom heard details Friday about how five people were gunned down.

Three men were shooting as they ran into the bank, hitting each of the victims in the head within 40 seconds, Police Capt. Steve Hecker testified in the suspects' first court appearance since the killings Thursday morning.

The first person apparently shot was bank customer, Evonne M. Tuttle, who was standing at the teller's counter when hit by the gunfire, and the gunmen who hit Tuttle then jumped the counter, said Hecker, who based his tesimony on what he saw on a bank's surveillance tape.

The other victims were all bank employees.

Hecker said the suspects indicated that the robbery attempt had been planned for at least two weeks. He said they had cased the bank on several occasions to try to determine money drops and the number of bank employees at certain times of the day.

When asked why they started shooting, one of the suspects told investigators that "it went to hell in the bank," Hecker said.

The suspected gunmen were identified by police as Jose Sandoval, 23, of Norfolk; Jorge Galindo, 21, and Erick Fernando Vela, 21, both of Madison.

The fourth suspect, Gabriel Rodriguez, 26, of Madison, was believed to have been driving the group's planned getaway car in the robbery at nearby Norfolk.

All four were being charged with five counts of first-degree murder, which carries a potential death sentence in Nebraska. In court, an interpreter was used to read the murders and additional weapons charges for at least one of the suspects.

As CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowan reports, friends of the suspects and relatives of the four employees and a customer killed had filled the 35-seat courtroom.

All of the men were handcuffed and wearing orange jail jumpsuits and sandals.

Jessica Hernandez, friend of one of the suspects says, "I mean, you hang around with these people for so long and you never suspect anything like this."

Few of the suspect's friends would call them "sweet", but none believed they were capable of this.

Adriana Zarata, another friend says, "I really want to know why they did this because, you know it's hurting us, with what they did, because we loved them."

And it's not just their friends who are wondering, many in the town of Norfolk are wondering too.

Candy Sander, "We don't understand how this could happen anywhere."

But according to experts, Norfolk is just the kind of town most at risk.

Robert Louden of John Jay College tells Cowan, "Small towns are easy targets."

According to FBI statistics, on a per capita basis, towns of 10,000 to 25,000 are the most likely targets of bank robbery.

Says Louden, "They're out of the way but they're close to escape routes, the buildings are soft targets, the economy is poor so people see it as easy pickings."

The three suspected gunmen were arrested a few hours after the shootings at a gas station in the ranch town of O'Neill, 76 miles away.

Rodriguez was arrested late Thursday after police found the Cadillac he was believed to be driving, Police Chief Bill Mizner said.

Investigators believe Rodriguez had been posted outside the bank in the car until the robbery went awry and he drove off, Mayor Gordon D. Adams said.

"He must have been the getaway driver, and had a change of heart when he heard the gunshots," Adams said.

Three people inside the bank survived the shootings — a customer who was wounded and two unharmed employees, police said.

After fleeing the bank on foot, the gunmen broke into a nearby house where they confronted an elderly couple at gunpoint and stole a car, Mizner said. No one in the home was injured.

No money had been recovered on the men or along their suspected escape route, Mizner said. An audit was being done at the bank to see if any money was missing.

Three handguns were recovered on the roadside between Ewing and Clearwater, along the route that police believe the suspects fled after the robbery. Mizner said handguns were used in the shootings, but investigators had not yet determine if the weapons found were the ones used in the crime.

Police, volunteer firefighters and volunteers on all-terrain vehicles were combing the side of U.S. Highway 275 between O'Neill and Norfolk searching for evidence, Matchett said.

Mizner had tears in his eyes as he read the victims' names at a news conference. The employees — Lola Elwood, 43, of Norfolk; Jo Mausbach, 42, of Humphrey; Lisa Bryant, 29, of Norfolk; and Samuel Sun, 50, of Norfolk — and customer Evonne Tuttle, 37, of Stanton, were found dead at the scene. Bryant had been married only seven weeks ago.

The first three suspects were arrested less than three hours after the robbery occurred.

The three were surrounded by officers with guns drawn when they stopped for gas and food in O'Neill. The town's police chief, Ben Matchett, said he could not disclose what led him and two other officers to the men and the stolen pickup they were driving.

At least three of the suspects have lived in the area for years. Galindo, Sandoval and Rodriguez all attended school in Madison, Schools Superintendent Robert Ziegler said. He said Galindo left high school in 1998, Sandoval left in 1995 during his freshman year, and Rodriguez left in 1991 after eighth grade.

All of the men had criminal records, mostly involving multiple drugs and weapons charges. Vela had been charged as recently as last Friday with carrying a concealed weapon.

Criminal records indicated Sandoval and Rodriguez spent time in prison for a burglary in Madison County, which includes the cities of Norfolk and Madison. Sandoval was in prison from 1995 to 2000; Rodriguez was in from 1995 to 1998. Prison records indicate he attempted to escape from work release in 1996 and 1997 while serving that sentence.

After stealing the car at gunpoint, the suspects drove about 10 miles, ditched the vehicle and stole a pickup truck, Mizner said. Authorities tracked down the first vehicle, a Subaru Outback, by using its satellite navigation system.

The killings stunned the community of 25,000 people about 90 miles northwest of Omaha. Norfolk is best known as the hometown of comedian Johnny Carson, but it is also the economic hub in rural, northeast Nebraska.